My Spring Break was...

ballin. (is that still cool to say?)
well- regardless- it was:)
I kept referring to it as "the christmas break we didn't have"
Christmas Break was fine-- but we packed it sooo tight with trips and visits that we never rested. We had car troubles and first-christmas-married troubles and on top of it all- you still have the stress of an enitre semester looming not so far ahead of you.
ick.
but SPRING break, mmmm:) much better.

i wish I had pictures to share with you but, lo, my camera was out of order until very recently. so words will have to do :)

march 18- last minute dinner with very dear friends- such fun!

march19- My birthday, but MUCH more importantly- Jason and Becca's wedding day!!

I literally forgot it was my birthday til Mom called to wish me a happy one. 24 must be old :) Jason is in Jonathan's 1L class and we have grown very close to them over the psat year. We felt so honored to be a part of theit big day. Their wedding was in Amhurst, VA, so we had a looong drive. But things worked out perfectly- I have family in Beckly, WV which served as a half way point. After the wedding, we headed to Beckley and were finally able to spend some quality time with them. We even got to meet their little girl Bella for the first time! We couldn't have had nicer weather to drive in and we spent the entire 700 miles just talking and laughing. It was such a beautiful reminder that I am married to me best friend. We never even got around to turning on the radio:)

march 20- we headed home from Beckley and went out for my Birthday dinner at Olive Garden. I got to open my presents from my darling husband and share a lovely evening at home with him.

march 21-march 24- we slept in every day and reveled in our empty schedule. We had dinner with the Smith's on Tuesday, lunch with Cole and home group on Wednesday, dinner with Bogroff's on Thursdays. see? I didn't even have to cook!

march 25-27- we spent the last weekend of break with my family. Dad cooked 4 turkey's on the spit (2 of which are still in our fridge--whole.) I got to spend saturday with my 2 best friends from home, one of whom is getting married in October! we went to look at wedding venues and had a lovely time. Then the fam went out for yummy wings at DJ's- these wings are the only thing  that Weirton is famous for :)

ok...i know it doesn't sound relaxed- but it WAS. it was perfect. I felt like I really needed to get away from school and work for a little while. I feel like spring break gave me the jolt I need to get through the rest of this semster, and then, before we know it-

it'll be SUMMER again!!!

VIVA MEXICO!

I spent my spring break in Riviera Maya, Mexico. It was a gorgeous and fun filled trip. During it I...

Sun bathed by the crystal blue waters,

Visited a near-by fishing village, Puerto Morelos,

Went snorkeling,

Ate some delicious Mexican food,

Enjoyed a fair share of yummy beverages,

Hugged on this guy a lot ;)

Watched a blues concert,

and danced the night away.

I had a wonder few days in Mexico and I already want to go back. The below freezing temperatures and law books were less than pleasing to return to. Oh well, it will be summer soon!!

Thanks for reading,
Lauren, aka LuxLucy :)

Spring Break Was SOOOO Lovely!

I managed to squeeze in as much fun as one week could fit!

It started out with a road trip home to DC.

There were many treats.

There were dinner dates.

Time with good friends

Fun times

House hunting in Charleston, and catching up with besties

Now it's back to the law school grind.

Thank goodness we have our Law Ladies to help get us through :)

XOXO, Jessica from Crafting Happiness

Spring Break Adventures

We were on a bit of a hiatus last week because, well, it was Spring Break.

And none of us (I hope) were thinking too much about law school.

Spring Break always seems to fly by.

This year we spent 4 days with our best friends the Taylors in Knoxville, TN.

It has become somewhat of a tradition to get together when time/babysitters/life allows. Even if it means two visits in two months. The kiddos were taken care of thanks to grandparents, so we headed down Friday. It was a really relaxing weekend. Boys played, girls got pampered.

Other friends were in the mix this time too.

My friend Erin (a PHd student down there) joined in the festivities—there were even some other Morgantownites (Cam and Sarah King) visiting the area.

We all gathered for dinner and then took the party back to the Taylors. The best part, though, was just taking some time to relax with some of our favorite people.

The rest of Spring Break has been spent working—cleaning the house, going in to the office and really anything BUT schoolwork! I am obviously still in avoidance mode since I am updating the blog instead of reading for Employment :) oops...

Keep checking in for the other Law Ladies Spring Break Adventures!!

Goals, Goals, Goals

It's my turn to chime in on the topic of GOALS.
I must admit, I can sometimes be TOO focused on this area, and I have a list of goals for each and every area of my life going at all times.
I like to update it once I reach my old goals, and set new ones. I am also constantly reassessing my life, and searching for areas where positive changes can be made.

That being said, I will share just a few of my goals with you today.

The first of which being:

TO BE PRESENT IN THE MOMENT.

This is a huge one, especially for my spiritual practice.
I am a student of the Self Realization Fellowship, and believe in meditation, yoga and positive thinking as components of the path to a happier life, and higher enlightenment.


I also want to focus on having faith, and not being a "worry wart."
Things will either happen or they won't, whatever is meant to be will most certainly be.
This is a practice that I must stay active at, in order to get better at.
I know I can do it!

In terms of other more specific goals, I have different categories.

In school- I want to graduate law school next May. This summer I will take some classes in Charleston, while my boyfriend studies for the bar. This will give me a chance to lighten my load for next year.
I will also be part of the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic next year, which means that I will help provide low-cost legal services for entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofits seeking to form or grow a business in West Virginia. Due to my own business goals, this is something I am incredibly passionate about, and thus excited for.

In Work- I hope to continue growing my personal blog. I also want to launch a lifestyle and local living blog, and concentrate on this endeavor post-law school graduation.
I also want to become more involved with local style projects, hopefully owning my own store one day and styling business as well.

In Friendships- I hope to continue carving out some time for dinners out, coffee dates, etc. It is very hard since I have been oh so busy lately, but my friendships are something that I will simply NOT compromise on. They really do mean the world to me!

In Fitness- I want to continue making time to work out, around 5- 7 days a week.  This includes 1-2 hot yoga classes a week, running, and lifting weights at the gym.
When I am committed to my fitness, I feel best.
There is no short cut.

In Health- I want to continue with a regular sleep schedule.  This means not staying out too late on weekends, and then sleeping in super late. I got up at 8 am this morning, and will feel great all day for it. I like feeling tired at night, and being able to get a full nights sleep.
I also want to continue drinking a lot of water each day, and eating healthy.
Little treats, like fro yo and cupcakes, will be allowed :) Of course!

In Love- I want to continue having faith and hope, and being present in the moment.
My mantra is
"Calm consistent love."

~*~*~*~*

Those are just a few of my goals for now.
I hope you can relate, and that you are working toward some great goals of your own.
I love being surrounded by motivated, positive, inspiring women.
The Law Ladies are great for that :)

Stay tuned for many more great things!
We are just getting started over here :)

Goals

My big goal right now is balance. I need to learn to better balance my relaxation and fun time with my work time.

Dominique Moceanu, balancing like a champ.

I feel like I am either working like a maniac or being a total bum. I need to get better at spreading my work out over time instead of working on it all at once. Basically, I need to quit procrastinating! I was never really a procrastinator before I came to law school, but now I value relaxation and free time so much more that when I feel like I can take it, I DO!

My small goals right now include:

• blog more often
• work out more
• try new recipes

The law ladies blog has helped me so much in my blogging on LuxLucy because it forces me to write about a new topic each week. These new topics always get me thinking about other things I could be blogging about and ta-da more blog posts on my personal blog!

I was kicking some butt at the gym during the beginning of the semester, but a nasty cold and heavy workload have put a damper on my gym time the last 2 weeks. I am going to get back at it though as soon as I return from spring break!

I keep finding tons of awesome new food blogs and they are super inspiring. However, I have yet to try out new recipes. I will try one here or there, but mostly I am in a cooking rut. I am determined to get out of it!

Those are my goals, big and small.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend :)

XOXO, Lauren from LuxLucy.

I'll admit it...

...this week's topic scared me a little.

You see... I live and work and learn amongst very goal-oriented people.

Law school is full of mini-lawyers with 5, 10, 20 year plans.

full of people with connections and money and confidence.

full of people who know exactly how they got here and, more importantly,

where they are going.

but me?

i just don't know...

and that's SO much more than ok :)

I don't know quite how i came to law school in the first place...

but I know that the Lord brought me here.

and I don't know where I'm going to end up 5 years from now...

but I know that the Lord will take me there too.

He's never abandoned me. He's never left me to my own plans {thankfully!}

In fact, usually when I think I have a plan or a goal or an agenda-

he flips my life upside down and takes me somewhere

entirely new.

entirely fresh.

entirely better.

I have lots of things I'd like to accomplish. But my really important goals, the ones that my heart returns to when life gets crazy or pressure is building are found in Micah:

"And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly

and to love mercy 

and to walk humbly with your God."

Micah 6:8

So for now, ladies and gentlemen, my goals are as simple as that:)

<3 Chelsy

Goals...big and small

We used to spend every new year's eve in Knoxville, TN, visiting our friends the Taylors.

About 5 years ago (which was probably the last NYE we went) I remember that January 1 fell on a Sunday. So we went to church. I don't remember the whole sermon, but I remember the verse. It stayed with me (like in the Wedding Planner when she only ate the brown M&M's at the end). I don't even remember what I learned in Civil Procedure last semester or Employment law last week, so the fact that this stuck with me for 5 years is pretty significant!

The verse was Luke 2:52

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

It is not a long, complex verse, but it is chalk full of applicable information-at least for me. So many of my goals center around the "stature" part of this verse. I want to lose weight or exercise more. I want to run a half marathon. But if all of my goals center here I am missing out.

So...

handpaintedquilts.com

BIG GOAL: I want to grow in wisdom.

Small steps to get there: I think it can mean learning in general. But wisdom is more than knowledge. I want to learn from my mistakes and appreciate the good and not so good things that life throws at me.

BIG GOAL: I want to grow in stature.

HAHA--ok so opposite of this.

Small steps to get there: I want to be healthy. I want to treat food and exercise appropriately. They are both a necessary and vital source of life! And I do want to run a half marathon which means setting smaller goals like one long run a week.

BIG GOAL: Grow in favor with God

Small steps to get there: This is why I am so glad to be living in community with friends like Chelsy and Abby-and our group that meets on Thursday nights. I want to read my bible daily. Pray more. But I don't do great when I try to do this on my own. It requires accountability and encouragement!

BIG GOAL: Grow in favor with man

Small steps to get there: I have great friends! I have great people in my life. It is so easy to not put in the effort to keep those relationships going-especially when you have kids. But I want to strengthen the relationships that I have and not hinder new ones from forming.

Thanks for being a part of my journey...Cole

Tomorrow it is Jessica's turn :)

GOALS, Goals, goals . . .

The topics this weeks is GOALS!

As I sat back and thought about this, I realized that there is one main goal in my life that encompasses all other goals right now and that, my dear friends, is:

BEING HAPPY!!!!!!

(Very few things make me as happy as

this photograph that I saw at the

Buckwheat Festival!)

That might seem extremely cliche and obvious, but with all the stress of law school and obligations imposed on me everyday, if I do not make an effort to do things that make me happy, I will find myself drowning in stress and anxiety and completely UNHAPPY.  

Things that make me happy:

1) Hot Yoga

2) Reading

3) Eating a GOOD meal with GOOD friends

4) Netflix

5) Joss Whedon

Every thursday, My best friend and I got to a hot yoga class and then eat Indian with some of our favorite people, so BAM!, two things off the list. 

 Also, I just finished watching Joss Whedon's series, Dollhouse on Netflix!  Two more things on the list!!!!  Reading for pleasure has been really hard to do recently, but I am hoping to squeeze some in over Spring Break!

It is important to do THINGS that make us happy, but I think it is even more important to work on the inner state of joy and contentment.  There will ALWAYS be situations and circumstances that are beyond our control and that have a negative impact on us.  What is important is how we choose to RESPOND to those circumstances!  If there is something in your life that makes you unhappy, and it is beyond your control, you have two options:

1)  Sit around, dwell on the thing that makes you unhappy, and become more and more unhappy

-or-

2) Accept that you cannot change the situation, focus on the things you DO HAVE to be HAPPY about, and pour your energy into helping yourself and others experience happiness!

I realize that I got a little off the main topic of goals, but every smaller goal that I have (whether it be losing weight, getting more exercise, meeting new people, deepening friendships) is just an expression of this larger, overarching goal.

Fill in the {blank}

1. The word or phrase I most overuse is:

OMG!

F*ck: I cuss too much. Oops.

2. Today I am thankful for:



Cold medicine. I wouldn't have made it through the day without it. And diet coke, always thankful for diet coke.

3. My best friend is:


My mom. She is the person I can turn to when I feel down knowing that she will always make me feel better. She is always the firstI person I run to when I have a question about anything. She is my most favorite person on the face of this earth. I hope one day that I am able to have an equally as awesome relationship with my children.

4. A quirky thing about me is:
I am REALLY particular about texture when it comes to food. Even if something tastes great, if it feels weird I'm not going to eat it! {examples: Beans, sushi, tofu}

5. This weekend I:
Will be working frantically on my criminal procedure memo.

6. Something that worries me:
My constantly growing to-do list. Law school + real life = a very busy Lauren. I am always thinking about what I should be doing. My favorite feeling EVER is the release of stress I get after completing the last final exam of the semester. Nothing can compare to being worry free after a stressful semester up on law school hill.

7. On my night stand you would find:
A candle and a lamp (I am really into good lighting). Inside of my nightstand you would find chapstick, matches, hair ties, cough drops, and other random items that have made their way into my nightstand over the past few years.

Fill in the Blank- Vlog Style

I thought I'd switch things up a bit today.

Here are my answers, in the form of a video blog post.

Hope you like! :)

song : weekend, smith westerns

with a guest appearance by a wild dog: my chihuahua puppy tweedy 

XOXO, Jessica from Crafting Happiness

Fill in the ______________

1. The phrase or punctuation I overuse most is: I think I could just copy and paste Chelsy's answer here. I use ellipses too much and dashes--all the time. Dashes everywhere! Who needs commas and semi-colons. I also say "Oh my gosh" and "Good grief" and "Well..." too often. Do you know how I know this? Because Libby says them all the time.

2. Today I am thankful for: coffee...not much sleep has been had in the Bozic house lately. Well-I'm pretty much always thankful for coffee so I can't blame lack of sleep. Also thankful for my verse of the day today.

The LORD will keep you from all harm -

he will watch over your life;

the LORD will watch over your coming and going

both now and forevermore.
-- Psalm 121:7-8

3. My best friend is (friends are): several. Near and far, I am so lucky to have these people in my life. Some were insta-friends, some took longer to establish, but now they are all permanent fixtures in my life without whom I don't know what I would do [husband you are lucky you are on this list considering the next answer]

4. A quirky thing about me is: I cannot sleep unless ALL doors are shut. Open doors give me the heebie jeebies. [side note: I asked husband what was quirky about me and he was awfully quick to list a number of things. 1) I cannot speak without moving some part of my body-noting especially my feet 2) I snort when I laugh 3) I make weird faces in the mirror when I am getting ready in the morning. Thanks husband for all the help ;) He also sweetly said that he thought it was pretty quirky that I fell in love with him, so the above is forgiven]

 5. This weekend I: Am writing a memo-blech. Saturday will be spent sitting at my desk and getting all 15 pages on paper. I don't even want to talk about it...

6. Something that worries me is: My kiddos going to school. Especially Libby. Oh how I worry that kids will be mean to her :( I am really making a frowny face right now.

7. On my night stand you would find: very little. I hate clutter. I have a lamp, a clock and a baby monitor. Before I had kids, I would almost always have a book as well. But little fingers like to tear pages, so I tend to keep the books out of reach.



Tomorrow you get to enjoy Jess's fill in the blanks.

I know I'm excited--never know what that girl is going to say :)

Fill in the ____________.

1. The phrase or punctuation I overuse most is: I'm a fan of {these} and ...these... and !!these!!..oh and these:)  But when I'm writing, I wayyy overuse ---these---

Speaking of  punc.tu!ation... you know this is funny :)

2. Today I am thankful for: having a couple classes cancelled this week, three cheers for extra time to work on my bench memo!

3. My best friend is: my hubby-- cheesy, i know, but true! We have so much fun together :)

<3

4. A quirky thing about me is: I CANNOT sleep in an unmade bed. Just can't happen. I rarely have enough time to make it in the morning before we leave for class, but I always make Jonathan wait while I make it right before we go to bed.



(wouldn't it be nice to have a made bed, and this view??)

 5. This weekend I: am going home to Weirton to celebrate my birthday {a little early!} and to see a friend in her high school musical, can't wait!




Birthday cake is my *favorite* thing about birthdays!


6. Something that worries me is: taking the bar exam-- i know it's a long way off, but it still gives me the eebie jeebies.

7. On my night stand you would find: a lamp, a little wooden box of hidden treasures {ie, random knick knacks}, and chapstick. ALWAYS chapstick.



must have :)



Tomorrow we'll get inside Cole's head :) See you all next week!

<3 Chelsy